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pnwmom

(109,020 posts)
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 02:47 PM Apr 2015

Someone should tell Indiana that their new religious freedom law supports female genital mutilation

Last edited Sun Apr 5, 2015, 03:59 PM - Edit history (3)

done under the guise of religious beliefs.

If someone were arrested for doing that to a girl, the defense could be the religious freedom law. The courts aren't in the business of determining what a valid religious practice is or isn't.

Maybe Indiana would be fine with that, though.



http://www.theahafoundation.org/female-genital-mutilation/

Faith on Trial: Communities of Faith, the First Amendment, and the Theory of ...
By David Guinn

Speaking against the Federal law that criminalized female genital mutilation, the author writes that he personally opposes FMG, but:

“the way the law was enacted and the thinking behind it present potential long-term harms to the interests of religious freedom.”

p. 179

https://books.google.com/books?id=-300ikPEXMQC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=religious+freedom+female+genital+mutilation&source=bl&ots=O6rfgisJOv&sig=X1M2XnO1W4f4E1RaKmiFh80L5FI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7IYhVeiIM9TcoASA_oCgCg&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=religious%20freedom%20female%20genital%20mutilation&f=false

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/01/19/the-individualistic-american-law-of-religious-exemptions/

Say that someone demands a religious accommodation, under one of the state or federal religious exemption regimes (whether under an employment statute such as Title VII, a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a state constitutional religious freedom provision, or what have you). And say that most of his co-religionists don’t share this belief or that the belief isn’t seen as part of the standard obligations that the religion imposes on its adherents. Would he lose because of that?

SNIP

The American law of religious exemptions says “no,” because that law is in this respect individualistic. The right to a religious exemption belongs to a particular religious believer because of his religious beliefs, whatever they might be. The right does not belong to a religious group (setting aside certain religious associational rights that are not relevant here), nor does it belong to a person by virtue of his membership in a group.

As a result, small sects, minority groups within sects, and even idiosyncratic religious believers are as protected as large sects. One doesn’t need a note from one’s priest to prevail in a religious exemption case.

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Someone should tell Indiana that their new religious freedom law supports female genital mutilation (Original Post) pnwmom Apr 2015 OP
kick Liberal_in_LA Apr 2015 #1
What do fundies care about women anyway? valerief Apr 2015 #2
Is this even after the fix? Nt riderinthestorm Apr 2015 #3
Yes. The "fix" only amends the law to say that companies can't refuse to sell pnwmom Apr 2015 #4
It's not over yet. The polyamorists can have their wives and kids and if they can not provide for Thinkingabout Apr 2015 #5
I wouldn't want to give them any ideas. justiceischeap Apr 2015 #6
Utterly false. former9thward Apr 2015 #7
Indiana has a sorry history of not protecting children against injury due to parents' religious beliefs. pnwmom Apr 2015 #8
Try again. former9thward Apr 2015 #9
Oh great. Indiana will only allow parents to deny their children lifesaving medical care because pnwmom Apr 2015 #10
Completely changing the subject. former9thward Apr 2015 #11
Federal Law bars Indiana from going as far as it would like to go in protecting religious rights. pnwmom Apr 2015 #12

pnwmom

(109,020 posts)
4. Yes. The "fix" only amends the law to say that companies can't refuse to sell
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 05:05 PM
Apr 2015

products or services to LGBT people.

Here is the original text:

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/568#digest-heading

Religious freedom restoration act. Provides that a state or local government action may not substantially burden a person's right to the exercise of religion unless it is demonstrated that applying the burden to the person's exercise of religion is: (1) essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and (2) the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest. Provides that a person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a state or local government action may assert the burden as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, regardless of whether the state or a political subdivision of the state is a party to the judicial proceeding. Allows a person who asserts a burden as a claim or defense to obtain appropriate relief, including: (1) injunctive relief; (2) declaratory relief; (3) compensatory damages; and (4) recovery of court costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
5. It's not over yet. The polyamorists can have their wives and kids and if they can not provide for
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 05:26 PM
Apr 2015

Them the social network can do the rest. Or with the Yearning for Zion group in Texas, get many women to provide young girls for the pleasure of Warren Jeff's and his fellow pedophile buddies. They claim this is their religious beliefs.

former9thward

(32,110 posts)
7. Utterly false.
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 07:01 PM
Apr 2015

I assume you have not read the law. I do not want the law but this is just ridiculous. The law does not allow some "anything goes" just because of religion. The law requires a government balance between religion and society. It would never allow female mutilation. No court would allow it. We have had these laws for over two decades and the only thing these laws have allowed is the use of peyote by certain Native Americans. You have lost credibility with this OP.

pnwmom

(109,020 posts)
8. Indiana has a sorry history of not protecting children against injury due to parents' religious beliefs.
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 07:06 PM
Apr 2015
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/faith_healing_religious_freedom_vs._child_protection

One of the first deaths Rita discovered that was not related to Christian Science was in Indiana. As Stauth tells the story:

4-year-old Natali Joy Mudd was found dead by detectives in her own home, with a tumor in her eye that was almost as big as the rest of her head. At the horrific scene, a police sergeant found horizontal trails of blood along the walls of the house. The trails matched the height of the girl’s head. Natali had apparently been leaning against the wall as she dragged herself from room to room, blinded, trying to find a way to freedom, before the tumor killed her. (Stauth 2013)

Natali’s parents belonged to the Faith Assembly Church, a Pentecostal offshoot. They didn’t believe in medical care, and they were not prosecuted because Indiana had strict religious shield laws. Two years later, Natali’s five-year-old sister died from an untreated tumor in her stomach the size of a basketball.

former9thward

(32,110 posts)
9. Try again.
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 07:15 PM
Apr 2015

18 U.S. Code § 116 - Female genital mutilation. That is a federal law prohibiting the practice. IN is still part of the federal government. So it is prohibited in all 50 states.

You remind me of conservatives who said if we allowed gay marriage then people would be marrying their dogs, etc. There are no laws about that but I have yet to see it happen. Have you? The OP is totally false.

Ohh I see you changed your post completely before I put my reply up.

pnwmom

(109,020 posts)
10. Oh great. Indiana will only allow parents to deny their children lifesaving medical care because
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 07:19 PM
Apr 2015

of the parents' religious beliefs.




They'd allow FMG based on religious beliefs, too, if the Federal govt. wasn't in the way.

4-year-old Natali Joy Mudd was found dead by detectives in her own home, with a tumor in her eye that was almost as big as the rest of her head. At the horrific scene, a police sergeant found horizontal trails of blood along the walls of the house. The trails matched the height of the girl’s head. Natali had apparently been leaning against the wall as she dragged herself from room to room, blinded, trying to find a way to freedom, before the tumor killed her. (Stauth 2013)

Natali’s parents belonged to the Faith Assembly Church, a Pentecostal offshoot. They didn’t believe in medical care, and they were not prosecuted because Indiana had strict religious shield laws. Two years later, Natali’s five-year-old sister died from an untreated tumor in her stomach the size of a basketball.


http://www.csicop.org/si/show/faith_healing_religious_freedom_vs._child_protection

former9thward

(32,110 posts)
11. Completely changing the subject.
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 07:22 PM
Apr 2015

After you were caught. I won't join you in trying to run from the OP.

pnwmom

(109,020 posts)
12. Federal Law bars Indiana from going as far as it would like to go in protecting religious rights.
Sun Apr 5, 2015, 07:30 PM
Apr 2015

Good for the Federal law. But it doesn't change the fact that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act would allow FMG if the Federal law weren't standing in the way. And the law already allows child neglect and abuse under the guise of religious freedom.

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